Does anyone have or tried Grizzly shop equipment for cabinet making I am looking for some feedback good or bad
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Some of it is good(so I've been told) but everything I ever got sucked. It is all in a landfill now, and even the other garbage won't associate with it. Keith C
Keith, I have no experience with Grizzly equipment, but I want to offer an opinion on how to better post your question. If you are considering a particular piece of equipment, mention it. It gives the other readers a better clue as to what you have in mibd. If you have found a deal on a used piece, give more details (age, cost, etc) so they can see the big picture. If you want to know about Grizzly in general, then your original post is adequate.
I have a Grizzly double drum sander that I really like. Wasn't too tough to set up when I first got it and has been very dependable and accurate. I've had it...maybe...8, or 9 years, something like that. Sometimes it sits for months, unused, then runs trouble free all day for a couple days, or maybe a few hours two or three days a week, then sits idle for a stretch. I bet that type of irregular use is real hard on a tool, but that thing has held up great.
The only problem I've had with that sander (besides learning how to use it) was a defective part in the magnetic switch that kept tripping the automatic shut off. I called Grizzly, they identified the problem and replaced it free, and this was a few years after I bought the tool. I was impressed.
I also bought a 48" lathe from them, but haven't used it enough to say how good a tool it is.
A good buddy of mine bought a tablesaw from them and swore the table was out of flat when he got it and swore off Grizzly because of it. I have drooled over their new line of big ass band saws for the past couple years, but haven't had enough reason to buy one. That "Z" line of tools they have all seem like good quality tools for the money. I wouldn't hesitate to consider buying from them, especially since I had such good customer service after the sale. Chevy quality, Chevy price, Chevy dependability (take THAT you F*rd lovers)
Edited 3/25/2002 10:37:32 PM ET by jim blodgett
I have a Grizzly 10 inch table saw, 8 inch jointer, and a 20 inch planer. All have given me lots of good service.
I live in one of the few cities with one of their distribution centers (Williamsport, PA), and here it is...they are as good as most tool companies. The cheap is cheap, and the expensive is good. Is it as good as Delta or Unisaw, I don't know. I have a good number of their tools, and alot of experience with their service. My tools are great, I just maintain them, and I don't buy the cheapest, I buy middle or upper middle equipment. When I have a problem, they've fixed it with a smile, and often with a nice showroom visit from the manager. Keep in mind, that a visit from the manager isn't a small deal here...they just built a new 2 or 300,000 sq. ft. facility 10 miles from my home. Some of it is imported crap, but if you buy well, you will find that the equipment is just fine.
Nathan Meredith
Grizzly switches seem to be a weak point in many of their tools. I had some friends who got a brand-new dust collector that set itself on fire on its maiden voyage due to a faulty switch. I had trouble with pulleys on the saws i bought becoming malformed bec they were made of pot metal. Belts were splices badly and vibrated too. Still, the tools made me enough money with minor modifications that i eventually could afford to move up!
Interesting that you like their double-drum sander. I have a single-drum Kuster and it leaves marks/ridges like a planer no matter what i've done to true the drum's rotation. Do you have to come back at your work with a hand sander after it goes through the drum?
Yeah, at least I am in the habit of finishing with a random orbit sander, splints. I think I get some straight line sanding scratches if I don't.
That double drum sander seems like it would be easy enough to use, but I had a hell of a time before I figured it out. Truth is, a guy who used to work with me figured it out or I might be cussing that thing to this day. Thanks, Don.
After logging off last night I remembered another guy I know, with a whole bunch of Grizzly stuff, shapers, powerfeeds, maybe a planer...he's a machinest as well as a woodworker and he likes his Grizzly tools just fine. Really, I think they're okay if you have any mechanical ability at all.
What did you have of theirs, Splints?
What did you have of theirs, Splints?
I bought two contractor saws in the early 80's. One had a problem with its centrifugal switch as well. Both had belt and pulley problems. When i set up the first saw, i called Bellingham to relay the problems and they said to handle it and they would reimburse me. When i billed them for both saws, they balked and would only pay for the repairs to one of them. I hadn't bought anything more for 20 years until recently.
I got a two-bagger dust collector second-hand that needed an $80 capacitor replaced, and leaks around the turbine area if it gets too much sawdust at a time, but it's OK just dedicated to the drum sander.
I bought a mini-lathe last fall that is a little darling, variable speed, cast and machined well. I got the pneumatic drum and flap sander at the same time and made the mistake of taking the flap side apart to see how it was put together: it took me the better part of a half-hour to reassemble the hand-carved backer brushes in the end-cap castings again, but it doesn't cost what a Sand-Rite does, either.
I received the 20" drill press mid-winter and was a little disturbed that it seemed to have no power, until i figured out they hadn't tightened the nut on the drive pulley sufficiently and it had wiggled looser and looser. Once fixed, it's a beast. It wouldn't be good if you had to move the table much, but usually i just raise and lower it, instead of rotating it on the column.
They seldom work straight out of the box, that's for sure.
I've used a Grizzly drill press for several years and it's fine, and I recently bought a 2 hp dust collector which works OK. On the other hand, I replaced a Grizzly 14" band saw with a Jet saw of the same size a few years ago, the the difference is remarkable: the Jet is far easier to set up and adjust and generally works a lot better. My conclusion is that Grizzly is OK for work where precision is not a big issue, but I'd go with something a little better for "fine" work.
I bought the Grizzly 1023SL cabinet saw. Cleaning off the cosmolene took longer than the setup. I put a Frued LU84 blade on it and that sucker cuts smooooth. Bought a Dubby sled and now everything is beautiful.
Customer service is good as well.
Thank you for your response. Did you have it delivered or picked up? The machinery is obviously less expensive than Delta or powermatic. I am a little leary I am a residential home builder and also a firm believer in low bid is the worst bid so I am trying to get as much input as possible as wellas planning to drive to their warehouse in Muncy PA it is about three hours drive from me I am about 1 1/2 hour out of Phila Pa.
Don't they have a big "Tent Sale" about once a year? Maybe in Spring?
Marky1: I bought a Grizzly 1023S tablesaw about 18 months ago. The saw has been trouble free and a great performer. It is also a great upgrade from by ancient 9" rockwell contractors saw. There was no way I could stretch to a unisaw or a Jet Cabinet saw at the time, and I didn't have time to spend hunting down and tuning up a used machine.
On the other I was at the Bellingham Grizzly showroom last week looking at band saws and was not impressed with what they had to offer. I think it best to take things tool by tool. Read the boards, check magazine reviews and go to the stores and put your hands on the tools. Each manufacturer seems to do some things well and others poorly.
Pay attention to what people say about customer service. I felt like I was taking a chance with Grizzly as I had heard that thier quality control was not as good as Jet, Delta, Powermatic, etc. But since I read many raves about Grizzly's customer service, I felt that the risk was acceptable.
Hope this helps, and good luck.
WBK
I've got to step up in defnse of Grizzly. My FIL has a shop ful of them that I started borrowing ten years ago. About eight years ago, I bought a few myself and the only times they've ever let me down has been from crew misuse. Switches do tend to wear out but hey it's an easy fix. I don't have many tools that don't get a new switch every few years anyway.
For imported stuff, Griz probably has one of the best quality inspection/assurance systems going and their assembly instructions put everybody else to shame. You can actually understand them.
Darn good value!
Excellence is its own reward!
I've had mixed results with the Grizzley tools we've purchased over the years. My 4 bag dust collector has worked great from day one with no work at all. I wasn't as pleased with the double drum sander as the earlier post however. The clips that hold the sandpaper on the drum were pretty cheap and broke after limited use. The guards covering the chain drives are so tinny they might as well not be there. The conveyor feed belt has very poor grip with even a little dust on it and the dust pickup doen't seem to work very well. I believe Grizzley outsources their machines through different manufacturers depending on the machine. Some do a better job than others. Overall, I think you get a good value. I've been to their Penn. location and looked at a lot of their equipment. A friend has purchase Their 10" contractors saw, 10" cabinet saw, 20" planer, shaper, 8" jointer, 20" drill press, and a dust collector. He had good luck with the saws, planer, shaper, jointer had a table warp, drill press chuck had a bad wobble. They were very good with customer service though and replaced everything to his satisfaction.
Their electrical controls are their weakest link, I think. Compare the magnetic switch control system on a Unisaw to theirs and you'll see $200 difference in price right there.
Jim,
question on your drum sander. Which direction is the rotation on your drums? Do they rotate against the direction of feed or with it? Mine came rotating with direction of feed and it can grab wood and throw it if you take to deep of a pass. I'm going to sell the unit anyway, but if it's backwards I want to correct it before someone gets hurt.
Bish
Edited 4/6/2002 8:14:18 AM ET by BISHOPBLDR
Bish - You asked "...question on your drum sander. Which direction is the rotation on your drums? Do they rotate against the direction of feed or with it?"
I've had that happen a few times. As you face the infeed side of the machine the feed belt moves away from you. The surface of the drums that touch the wood turn away from you, too. So really, they turn opposite directions, since one is above the wood, the other below. I think it's the pressure rollers that prevent material from shooting out the other side as you describe. It only happens to me when I am taking way too light a pass. When I try to take too deep a pass, the belts break, or the machine just stalls. If it happens a lot to you, you might adjust the pressure on the rubber rollers before and after the drums, I remember making adjustments to them at first.
My only complaint with that machine is the way you tape the other end of the sanpaper to the drums. Seems like they could have machined a recess in there so the tape wouldn't get sanded through if you put something a hair too far to that side. Maybe they've fixed that design flaw by now. My clips have held up great, although I lost one and am now down to two. I'd better get a spare to keep on hand, huh? But then again, I'd probably lose it.
I've read many, many people bashing that sander, but I love mine. Thing is, when you first get it you think it will cut like a planer and try to take way too much each pass. Takes about 10 passes to remove 1/16". It's for sanding, not sizing. I'm just lucky that when I bought mine I had a guy working with me who was way smarter than me and he figured out what we were doing wrong or I'd probably be cussing mine too. Great tool for a small cabinet shop. I can't imagine not having it now.
Edited 4/6/2002 10:01:17 AM ET by jim blodgett
Edited 4/6/2002 10:04:59 AM ET by jim blodgett
Edited 4/6/2002 10:09:19 AM ET by jim blodgett
Jim,
I think the problem with this rotation is similar to ripping the wrong direction with a radial arm saw. Feeding into the sanding drum you are pushing the thicker stock in to be grabbed by the abrasive cloth which will have a tendency to want to pull the wood through, sometimes way too fast. My wife was helping me sand some door panels the first time this happened. She was picking the panels up as they came through the outfeed side when one was grabbed and shot through and hot her in the hip and dropped her to the floor. Scared the hell out of me. Make sure no one ever is in the line of fire. I wonder if the unit would work if the drum rotatio was reversed?
I bought an open ended Bridgewood wide belt sander with double rollers and an adjustable platen. Has oscilating tracking, lots more power and will act as a thicknesser also. Much safer. This unit has a rubber type conveyor with better grip, and the rotation of the belt goes opposite the way the grizzly does. There's no chance of it grabbing your wood away from you. Only drawback is it cost 4 times as much. Guess you can't win. Anyone want buy a slightly used grizzly double drum sander now that I've bashed it here?
Work safe, Bish
My antique Kuster built from a kit (13 amp Baldor motor and separate gear motor for the feed) has a single drum that turns in the direction of travel as well. I control it by taking a very light cut on both sides of the slick, planed surface to provide some tooth for the rollers to grip. Until i learned this trick, i had to remind my help not to be a victim of Kuster's Last Stand.
Edited 4/7/2002 1:26:56 AM ET by splintergroupie
I usually start with 50 grit since i laminate a lot of figured and squirrely-grained woods i need to grind down without tearing, but i can take off a 1/16" in one or two passes with a new belt, depending on the wood specie. I also flip the belt end for end when putting it one again, reversing the grit, so to speak. It seems to cut better and stay cleaner. I also use a crepe cleaner stick on it every time i change a belt. Both ends of my belts look the same, however; i'm not sure if this works on the Grizzly.
I guess my point on these sanders is, direction of feed of a piece of lumber into a cutter or sander in this case, normally would be feed against the rotation. Examples are table saw, jointer, planer, shaper, etc. When you feed from the wrong end you are going to get the lumber ripped out of your hand. You would always feed against the rotation on these machines except possibly the shaper when using a good power feeder and doing a light backcut. With the sander, this puts all of the strain of holding back the lumber on the feed system. Why bother? Just design the tool to feed in the proper direction would make more sense. Then again, if you guys are aware of the possibilities/dangers of this setup, I guess it works for you. Just be carefull. I know in my shop I'm nervous enough about injuries to employees, so we just switched machines.
Bish
Another reason the advancing rotation of the drum seems counter-intuitive is that the sawdust piles in front of the drum which gets to roll over it again. I have my two-bagger dust collector right on the shroud and it doesn't get it all.
I remember some years ago, Grizzly advertised an open-sided 15" wide-BELT sander. I called for customers refs, which they gave me. But when i called the people, they informed me they hadn't actually bought the sander but were only on a waiting list. This kind of ticked me off, so i sloughed off the catalogs for years after. Anyone ever hear if Grizzly got this tool into anyone's hands?
Edited 4/8/2002 1:54:09 AM ET by splintergroupie